The Thrill Is Gone?

By Joe Kavanagh

For most in the music world, the road to the top - or even the middle - is paved with blood, toil, sweat and tears, as they seek to separate themselves from the ultra-competitive hordes. When those in the media speak of an overnight success story, they often neglect to mention the hundreds of gigs the band played as nobodies, or the ten other bands that the members were involved with before getting the formula just right. As one anonymous rocker once quipped when a journalist wanted to know the secret behind his band's supposed rapid ascent to the top: 'Yeah, we're a regular five year overnight success story.' There are some anomalies that are true overnight sensations, like Irish act, The Thrills, whose rapid ascent to the top meant that virtually nobody in Ireland had ever heard of them, even as they burst out of virtual anonymity and sold millions of records around the globe. Fame, however, is a fickle friend and what seemed to come so naturally for the Dublin act upon their 2003 has proven hard to sustain, with their sophomore effort all but bombing in a commercial sense. Now they are back with what they hope will remind music fans just why they were the toast of the music world only four years ago, and undoubtedly one of the most important bands in the Irish rock pantheon.

Singer Conor Deasy and guitarist, Daniel Ryan grew up as next-door neighbors in the affluent Dublin suburb of Blackrock, and began jamming together by the time their fingers were strong enough to hold notes down on a guitar. By the time the two were 15-years-old, they had also enlisted the help of keyboard player, Kevin Horan and drummer, Ben Carrigan, but it was not until they added multi-instrumentalist, Padraic McMahon, that the band truly began to find their 'sound'. Inspired by the musical tradition associated with the west coast of America, the five friends took their lead from artists such as Brian Wilson, Neil Young and The Byrds, and took their name from a combination of the old Phil Spector girl groups and Michael Jackson's groundbreaking Thriller album. In an effort to get closer to their heroes, in both a spiritual and geographical sense, the five members upped sticks and moved to San Diego in 1999, where they spent four months immersing themselves in the laid back culture, characterized by a steady diet of new musical influences as diverse as Marvin Gaye, Frank Sinatra and Stevie Wonder. It was, according to Deasy, the period where they realized 'this is what we have to do' and, returning to Dublin the band immediately began working more assiduously on their songwriting skills. They even created their own litmus test in order to discover whether a song was really up to scratch. Members would arrive at sessions with an idea for a song and the band turn an egg-timer, set to an hour-and-a-half, before jamming it out. If the song was not up to scratch by the time the last grains of sand drained from the timer, then it was dropped and the band would move on to the next idea. In 2000, they made another sojourn to the United States, this time to San Francisco, and the trip inspired two tracks, which would eventually become the mega-hits, One Horse Town and So Much For The City.

In 2001, The Thrills signed with the tiny Irish label, Supremo Records, but the deal proved somewhat disheartening when it fell apart only months later. Afraid to tell their parents of their apparent failure, the band continued to act as if they had a record deal but they need not have worried. Only months later, a friend of a friend managed to get one of the band's demos into the hands of Morrissey. The former Smiths' frontman liked the tracks so much that he enquired about attending one of the band's jamming sessions, so it was with disbelief that the five members looked across at a bona fide living legend at their rehearsal only weeks later. From such a shock, their feet barely had time to hit the floor before they had been whisked out on tour with Morrissey, playing in some of the most prestigious venues in Europe. By the time they signed with Virgin Records and were spirited away to California to begin work on their debut album with another legend in the form of producer, Tony Hoffer (Beck, Air, Smashing Pumpkins) the band was already being name-checked by such people as Noel Gallagher and Chris Martin, as well as a host of music journalists throughout the globe.

They say that 'timing is everything', a sentiment born out by The Thrills, whose album, So Much For The City, appeared just in time for the summer of 2003. Its west coast charm, sweet harmonies, catchy melodies and undeniable sunshine spirit caught fire all around Europe, spawning three Top 40 singles and platinum and gold sales virtually all over the world. The band became a fixture on both the summer festival circuit and awards ceremonies, where they walked away with the Q Magazine Award for Best New Act, as well as nominations for the Mercury Music Prize and a host of other awards. Having barely gigged in Ireland, the band now found themselves opening for such legends as Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones. Despite the history of European success stories that failed to make even an impression in the States, The Thrills managed to blaze through America with the same ease, becoming the second highest selling foreign band in the US in 2004 (behind The Darkness).

The Thrills were making it look too easy, but how soon it can all change. Perhaps weary that an extended hiatus might lose them momentum, the band set to work on their follow-up, almost before the engine on the tour bus had gone cold. In retrospect, perhaps even they would admit that it was a mistake. Let's Bottle Bohemia hit shelves in 2004 and was almost universally dismissed as 'more of the same, except not as good'. From shifting millions of records, the band now found it difficult to move any units as they went perilously close to being dismissed as a novelty act. In their efforts to get away from what they termed the 'naïve charm' of the first album, the band moved in a slightly darker direction, but not far enough for the critics. Despite spells on tour with the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and turns on Lolapolooza, the band's stock fell globally as more and more fans turned away until the name, The Thrills had all but vanished from the international music world only a year ago.

Now the five-piece is back with what they claim is their strongest work to date. New single, Nothing Changes Around Here, has just hit the airwaves and essentially sounds exactly like what you would expect from The Thrills; summery, 60's inspired pop. Far from being a new departure, the track shows that the band has not moved on, despite the fact that the rest of the music world has. Perhaps the summer might yet carve out a place for The Thrills, like it did four years ago, and even if it does not, they were undoubtedly the first Irish band to prove that Ireland could compete with international indie music, which had a truly profound effect on Irish indie bands. However, the emergence of more cutting-edge, sub-genres by bands such as Arctic Monkeys, Klaxons and Franz Ferdinand in the meantime has meant that The Thrills heyday now feels almost as far away as the Summer of Love that spawned their sound.